Can't Take a Vacation? Got 24 hours?

"Come to me and I will give you rest--

all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke." 

Matthew 11:28

Enter twenty-something Courtney, our petite fashionista and owner of a fashionista clothing boutique.  After only one year in business, her custom designs are flying off the shelves.  She exceeded her first year financial goals by 50 percent.   Wait, did I just see her put cream and sugar in her vegetable soup and dunk her bread in coffee.  Danger Whilemina Robinson, you need a vacation.  

Kiki, here... miracles and blessings  to all of you over-worked, exhausted iCafe Woman Moderne divas... will you excuse me for just a minute?  I've got to stop Courtney from chowing down on her sweet and creamy veggie soup.  Sounds familiar huh, then you too need a vacation or at least some staycation tips. 


What do you mean you can't.  You're not planning a trip to the moon.  What's that?  Your bills are high and your funds low.  You can't afford it -- you can't take the time off  ... blah, blah, blah.  No really ... I get it.   You're worried your 9-to-5 will have to file for bankruptcy without you planted in your cubicle for a week or two.  

Like Courtney, you're a busy entrepreneur determined to make your dream a profitable success.  She wants to hit that lucrative celebrity market so fourteen hour days are the norm. I've got one word for you.  Chill.   Yeah, I said it.  Will you chill already?

Everybody has bills and money that sprout wings and fly away at the mere thought of taking a vacation.  So clip their wings and take off for a weekend or a day.   iCafe Woman Moderne will be happy to do a vacation/staycation intervention, just let us know.

Everybody needs a day or two to re-charge even petite fashionistas surviving on Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey and Starbucks coffee.  Think of how productive you'd be after a day of riding waves at the beach, or screaming your head off through roller coaster loops with the family.  You remember them, the people you share your Fruit Loops with.   

Or trot along on a horse and carriage to a picnic spot in an historical area; staring at the stars in a Planetarium -- or imagining yourself swimming with the dolphins at your local aquarium. 

Yes, a trip to a museum and aquarium constitutes a vacation day... a day of fun.  You remember fun.  It's that thing that makes you grin and giggle.


Don't you deserve at least a mini vacation ... a staycation ... a day away from the daily grind?  Heck, yeah.  Wait for it ... wait for it ... and 3... 2... 1... there they go. Our iCafe Woman Moderne regulars, Angel and Sabrina just descended on Courtney and sat her in front of a free internet cafe pc.  They ignore her protests and search our cyber directory for vacation alternatives she can do in a weekend and even an afternoon.    Surprise ... surprise... her eyes perked up at these suggestions:

A.  Find a Bed & Breakfast in your own backyard for a weekend or overnight.

Here are some winners of the 2009-2010 
BedandBreakfast.com Awards. 

Best Bargain  for an Urban B&B

1. Jersey City B&B - only one mile from NYC.  

442 Mercer Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302

Phone:	+1-551-697-5549
Phone:	+1-201-217-0014
Cellular:	+1-201-937-6661

Rates start at $39 per night (one person) $49 (two persons) per night.  A room is still available for 8/31 or 9/1 for $29.  Also, Sept. 6 is only $19 for one and $29 for two.


Includes:  
Full Breakfast.  All rooms have free /WiFI; private bathrooms, a free phone too & over 25 other free amenities in every room including a microwave, stocked refrigerator with free soft drinks! 
FREE PARKING too! Easy & quick access to NYC by public transportation is always available 24 hrs a day; 7 days a week.

2. The Intown Uptown Inn
4907 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20011
Phone:  1-202-541-9400
Fax:       1-202-318-8361
Rates:  $100-$189

"Wysteria: Your dreams will be whimsical in the Wysteria Room. The eclectic decor and queen size pillow-top mattress are sure to put you into a deep sleep." "The wrought iron canopy bed and furnishings were selected to excite the imagination. Enjoy your private bath with a double Jacuzzi tub surrounded by a bay window and separate spa-tiled shower. We assume the risk that after staying in this room you won’t want to leave, but you will have to go home eventually!"

  




3. Best Beach B&B - Florida Bed & Breakfast

Harrington House Beachfront Bed & Breakfast
5626 Gulf Drive
Anna Maria Island
Holmes Beach, Fl  34217

Phone:	+1-941-778-5444
Fax:	+1-941-778-0527
Toll-free:	+1-888-828-5566

"Tropical surroundings and serenity top the list of amenities.  Savor a new breakfast selection every day from our collection of recipes prepared by our own professional chefs.  Relax in the living room, a gathering place where visitors become friends.  All rooms have private baths, color cable TV, air conditioning and free wireless internet.  Many of the rooms have French doors leading to balconies, overlooking the pool and the Gulf of Mexico."

Private bathroom with tub/shower Cable TV with VCR CD alarm clock radio Free wireless internet access Refrigerator Hair dryer Iron and ironing board Free local phone calls Voice mail Air conditioning Smoke detector Complimentary full breakfast prepared by our Chef DVD/VCR in Room Iron / Ironing Board Complimentary Full Breakfast

4. Best Overall B&B - California Bed & Breakfast

The J Patrick House
2990 Burton Drive
Cambria, CA 93428
Phone:  1-805-927-3812
Fax:  1-805-927-6759
Toll Free:  1-800-341-5258

J. PATRICK HOUSE, a Cambria Bed and Breakfast Inn, is an authentic log home and charming carriage house in a garden and forested setting.

ROOM RATE INCLUDES
• Country Elegant Accommodations
• Wood-burning Fireplaces
• Private Bathrooms
• Hosted Wine Hour
• Complimentary Concierge Services
• Beautiful gardens and sitting area
• Dial-up Internet Access
• Bedtime Killer Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Exquisite Breakfast:
   Homemade Granola
   Chef-prepared Hot Entree
   Fresh Baked Bread

NEVER TOO LATE GETAWAY SPECIAL*
Forgot to plan ahead? No problem. Find an available room within 24 hours of your stay and enjoy a special rate of $159. Please call to book: 800.341.5258.

At 5:30 each day enjoy the company of guests and hosts in the cozy living room of the log cabin. Your choice of homemade 
hors d'oeuvres are complimented by fine wines.

B. Turn Your Home into a Bed & Breakfast by hiring a Chef to Serve You a Gourmet Breakfast or Romantic Dinner for Two. A Personal Chef Can Create "Gourmet Breakfast Recipes," and "Gourmet Specialty Foods," and pass them along to you.

From Flipkey

"For the same cost as a restaurant meal, a professional chef will work with you to tailor a menu to your taste, do all of the shopping, and come to your kitchen to prepare a five-star meal for you to enjoy in your own dining room. Sound impossible? 

With companies like Simplicity Chef in Boston, it couldn’t be easier. Simplicity Chef’s Joe Letteri will create a four-course meal in your home starting at only $85 per person. 

Most in-home chefs cater their menus and ingredients to your preferences and budget, so don’t be afraid to set limits and hire a cook on your own terms.
 

If you love eating at home on vacation, but don’t want to have a cook in your house everyday, then you can also explore the option of hiring a chef to prepare multiple meals in advance. 

Services such as In-Home Dining by Marie design menus, do the shopping, and create a week’s worth of meals that you can store in your kitchen. To keep things free and easy, they even provide detailed instructions for heating everything on your own."

Your personal chef for the day can also create quick and easy dinner recipes for kids you can use for the future.

Staycation Tips...

C.  Take a Staycation -- Spend a Day as a Tourist in Your Own City

Here are some staycation ideas from Greenhudsonvalley.com:

• Explore the rail trails in your area by bicycle. Most communities have rail trail projects connecting larger cities by walking and biking paths. Explore your area by riding in five miles sections each day. www.railtrails.org
• Go to the local tourism office or website for a list of historic sites and museums to visit.
• Spend a Saturday touring farms and farm markets in your region to find out what is grown locally, and get a fresh delicious taste of the local flavors. www.localharvest.org
• Pick a nearby town on the map, and spend the day walking through the whole town, antiquing, eating in local restaurants, and getting a real sense of the history and culture of the place.
• Take an art, music, or acting class. Do something you always said you would do if only you had the time.

For example, perhaps you live in the Chicago area ... take a combination  tour that combines Chicago's most interesting and historic sights by mini-bus with a mesmerizing Chicago River/Architecture boat tour starting at $58.  If you need to save a few bucks, then enjoy a one-hour cruise of the historic Chicago River that showcases over 40 landmarks of modern American Architecture for a little over $20.
 

5. If staying on land is more your cup of tea, spend an afternoon with girlfriends at a British high tea.  Maybe chocolate floats your boat more, then Google a popular chocolate cafe in your hometown and spend your next free afternoon there enjoying fair trade chocolate brands.   The more the merrier.  Perhaps you'll discover the best dark chocolate in the world.

Check these out:

Chocolate Cafe'

1855 Northwest Blvd. Columbus, OH 43212 Grandview/Upper Arlington Area
Just North of the Kroger store on
Chambers Ave

Fondue Friday
Fondue Friday at the Chocolate Cafe 

All-u-can-eat! 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm
614.485.CAFE

 

Rose Garden Tea Room

General Information

626-405-2100

1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108
The Huntington

"In the heart of The Huntington's botanical gardens, the Rose Tea Room is as proper an English setting for high tea as you'll find in Southern California. It's location provides diners with views of the nearby rose garden while sipping tea and munching on cucumber and egg salad sandwiches or scones. Reservations are required for the Tea Room and should be made two weeks in advance, but the cafe is open on a drop-in basis."

Send iCafe Woman Moderne your creative staycation ideas.

 

I Thee Wed ... Again.

Long Island Beach Wedding Dress - $498
Therez Fleetwood - $1,200

What's great about renewing your wedding vows, you're already married.  So now you can keep it simple and make it even more romantic than your earlier big, fat, fill in the blank wedding.

Angie, our Black & White Scone and Skinny Chai came into iCafe Woman Moderne last month begging for ideas on renewing her wedding vows for her 25th wedding anniversary in August.   Yes, this August.  Yikes!

Kiki here, miracles and blessings ... we put our heads together and came up with these suggestions.

1.  Keep it Simple

You probably won't invite 200 guests, but if you didn't the first time ... have at it!  Let's say you did, you may want to keep it under 80.  I'm going for no more than 20 guests for my 20th I hope to have on a Maui beach.

Say Yes to the Dress...

Of course, it's still all about the dress.  If you want to stay nostalgic and can fit into your first wedding gown, why not wear it on your second special day.  Stranger things have happened.  If that's not happening and you need a gown-fitting miracle, check this out:

Here's a Shape Fix wedding dress from Spiegel.   Finally, a wedding gown that fixes your shape too.  Our prayers have been answered.

2. Select a dress that reflects your personality today.  

Tullle and a tiara was your dream look twenty years ago.  Today, you don't want all that beading and glitter people can spot miles away.   

Most likely it won't be a wedding dress at all.  You may go for the little black dress or the Breakfast at Tiffany's look.

Nordstrom Bubble Dress
Donna Ricci Chain Halter

Perhaps you had a plain ho-hum satin gown that made you feel Amish.  Now you want to look like a Hollywood starlet striking a pose on the coveted red carpet.  Keeping the celebration simple doesn't mean you have to keep the dress simple. 

Who you are today should be reflected in your dress.  I love this dress below, add another inch to the hemline and lose the veil.  It's where my fun side gets to hang out with my elegant diva side. 
 Price: $309

Maybe you want to go short this time around.

Suzy Chin

Suzy Chin - Chiffon and Satin Sheath.  Price:  $178

Price:  $192

3. Tell a story with your celebration or have a theme.  

Denise, our Eggplant Panini and Iced Latte Diva, wants to do her 15th anniversary /wedding renewal in a Harlem Cotton Club theme complete with a swing band, swing dance instruction and a DJ between sets to play contemporary music.  The couple and their guests will wear Harlem Cotton Club inspired evening wear.

Take a Glam page from the Old Hollywood Movies re-emerging today in weddings and renewals.   I love this gown (left) from the movie, "Sabrina."   Can't make up your mind between short and long, here's a happy alternative. 

4. Pick a location sentimental to you and your husband.

Let's say, you're high school sweethearts and you met between the french fryer and hamburger grill.  I think it's safe to say you won't be renewing your vows with Ronald officiating anytime soon.  But if you have a small guest list, (30-40) send guests off snickering with an edible favor, a McDonald Apple Pie.  (Two for a dollar)  I'm just saying.  

Decorate tables with McDonald's items you, family and friends have collected over the years--or, name each table after a McDonald's character, Movie Marketing Theme or Menu item.

5. Involve your children and grandchildren in the celebration. 

Incorporate children's artwork or poems about Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop.  Adult children can create a memory board or scrapbook.
If God blessed you with babies later in life, use a photo or footprints on setting placards.

6. Ask guests to wear a specific color to your celebration.  

Hit the color wheel and see where it stops--or have them wear white or black & white. 


7. Keep it small.  

If you go large, enlist the help of a party planner or a very organized friend.  A small wedding renewal can also benefit from the advice of a planner.

Beverly Clark's Wedding Location.com

8.  Renew your vows at a destination. 

Our Cobb Salad and Strawberry Smoothie Jacqueline and iCafe Woman Moderne diva -- like me -- plans to do her 20-year wedding renewal in 2012 on a beach in a Hawaii.   

For renewal brides with a modest budget consider Dominican Republic or Costa Rica where costs will be considerably less than Hawaii or Fiji.  Check out Beverly Clark's Wedding Location.com

NH Real Arena Luxury Resort

Dominican Republic's NH Real Arena Luxury Resort Renewal of Vows Package - Designed for wedding parties for 10 guests  

Cost -  $695*

~ Wedding Coordinator on Property to assist with your preparations
~ Multiple locations for your wedding ceremony including:
On the Beach, Center Courtyard, Tropical Garden or Indoors
~ Wedding Music Selection during ceremony (CD Playing)
~ Deluxe chairs for Bride and Groom
~ Chairs Elegantly Covered for your guests
~ Bouquet for Bride and Boutonniere for Groom (Tropical Flowers)
~ Wedding cake for 10 guests
~ One Glass of Sparkling Wine for the Wedding Party
~ Hors D’ouvres for 10 guests during Toast to the Couple

9.  Cut costs for your renewal ceremony and anniversary reception with ideas from Love to Know and a few I've thrown into the mix:

     a.  Choose a location that has natural beauty.  Whether it's the     stained glass windows in a church or a garden overlooking a scenic landscape.

     b. Make fruit or bread centerpieces that are also practical.  Give the fruit as favors with a printed ribbon attached to the stem.

 (Fruit Centerpiece)

Wheat Centerpiece  

     c. Select local blooms or grow them yourself.
     d.  Recycle decorations from ceremony to reception.

Granville Millinery Company       


     e. Display a hobby or trade as a centerpiece.  A hat you designed and made would make a unique table centerpiece. Use your felting skills to create a bouquet or centerpiece.  It's eco-chic too.

     f. Use a simple projector to turn a blank wall at your reception into an instant showpiece by broadcasting a slide show that will silently repeat throughout the evening. Slides can include photos of the couple, romantic clip art, wedding phrases, and other related images.

     g. Change bulbs in lighting fixtures to match your wedding colors.

     h.  Use cupcakes as centerpieces for small to mid-size weddings in lieu of a wedding cake.  You and the groom can have your own  cupcake display decorated with symbols of your hobbies reflected.

Art Nouveau Cake and cupcakes

Here are some beach themed cupcakes you'll want to try ...

10.  Do you want to make a unique,  sweet statement?  

Cake designers can make anything with flour, sugar and chocolate.  
Add the polka dot cake below to my "love it!" list.  Too cute.

For a twist on a candy buffet, try incorporating a licorice bar.  Licorice comes in a large variety and can be more budget friendly than other candy and chocolate. 

Check out these non-bridal wedding renewal looks for summer celebrations.

Neiman Marcus - Aidan Mattox Floral Print Chiffon - $395

Neiman Marcus - David Meister - One Shoulder Jersey - $380

Nordstrom's - Max & Cleo Mock 2-piece - $198

Whatever you do make it romantic, and make it special to reflect your love and commitment to each other.

Want to hang out more at iCafe Woman Moderne - a virtual cafe blog for inter-generational women...  FOLLOW US - click on the "follow" logo on the sidebar. 

Want help with your wedding renewal or special event and you live in the Delaware Valley (Philadelphia, South Jersey, Delaware region), contact Kiki at Posh Events via:  bythescribe@gmail.com.  

For more Kiki fun in the blogosphere, check out:  
(CLICK HERE) Joan B. Average, Scriptwriter
An Average Joan's adventures into the world of creative possibilities.